The site wedged between an industrial area and a cluster of tracks near Plochingen’s railway station presented a task rich in contrast, with noise behind and music up front.
The site merits a building with considerable urban impact, which is provided by dividing the building into two differentiated yet clearly shaped blocks. These are connected at ground level by a wall that unifies the entire complex. Towards the street, the wall opens with an archway and a grand gesture to a sheltered inner courtyard that provides access to the main entrances on both sides.
The left part of the complex, the academy building, accommodates the administrative offices as well as rehearsal halls with variable acoustics, music-making rooms, and meeting and seminar rooms for workshops, conferences and courses offered by the wind music association Blasmusikverband Baden-Württemberg.
In the right part of the building are the en-suite guest rooms for overnight stays, which can be rented by musicians for rehearsal weekends, along with a dining area. Well-defined structures provide clarity, while inner courtyards and a roof terrace create openness.
Two large-scale spaces – the canteen, which adjoins another courtyard, and the orchestra hall – occupy the two extremities of the linear ensemble, with the southern end of the facility accentuated by the auditorium and its towering skylight.
The loggias of the dormitory rooms open onto the courtyards. The few rooms directly alongside the railway tracks serve as offices or practice rooms and are all fitted with soundproof windows.
Stone flooring and durable oak parquet or linoleum set the tone inside, while the interior walls at the entrance level are made of brick.
The entire form is clad with light-coloured bricks typical of the area, which emphasises the monolithic character of the building and promises enormous robustness and thus a long lifespan.

Client:
Blasmusikverband Baden-Württemberg e. V.

Architects:
LRO Lederer Ragnarsdóttir Oei, Stuttgart

Team:
Marc Oei, Simone Neuhold, Michael Maier, Peter Leidlmayer

Project Management:
Büro Wehrmann, Stuttgart

Structural Engineering:
Mayer-Vorfelder und Dinkelacker, Stuttgart

Building Engineering:
Schreiber Ingenieure, Ulm

Electrical Engineering:
Neher Butz Ingenieurbüro, Konstanz

Structural Physics:
Bayer Bauphysik, Fellbach

Fire Protection Planning:
umt Umweltingenieure, Ulm

Landscape Architecture:
Helmut Hornstein, Überlingen

communication design/visual identity/orientation system:
büro uebele visuelle kommunikation, Stuttgart
("excellent work", tokyo tdc annual awards 2023)

Competition:
2016 (1. Prize)

Construction Period:
2017–2021

Gross Floor Area:
6.700 sqm

Gross Volume:
27.400 cbm

Location:
Eisenbahnstraße 59, 73207 Plochingen

Award

Hugo-Häring-Auszeichnung 2023,
BDA Esslingen - Göppingen

Publications
AIT, 01,02 | 2022
02 | 2022

Lederer   Ragnarsdóttir  Oei 2.
Lederer, Arno / Ragnarsdóttir, Jórunn / Oei, Marc (Hg.):
Jovis Verlag Berlin 2021

Kunst in Plochingen – Architektur 2: 20.–21. Jahrhundert
Plochingen am Neckar (Hg.)

DAB Deutsches Architektenblatt
Interview mit Marc Oei
06 | 2023

Photos
Roland Halbe